Key-fastener



(No Model.)

H. A. PALMER.

KEY FAS'JTENIEiR. .No. 591,177. I Patented Oct. 5,1897.

glib 6' 5 7 7 I 12 5 2 7 2 3 3 f 5 a j 10 /9 4 Witnesses. Inventor.

Jam 1. MAM a. PM

. Fi -$0M W QT [k attorney.

n4: magma mg"; 00, wuovoumov. WASHINGTON, n. l.

rrnn STATES.

HERBERT A. PALMER, OF WVINTHRQP, MASSACHUSETTS.

KEY-FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 591,177, dated October 5, 1897.

Application filed March 19, 1897. Serial No. 628,256. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HERBERT A. PALMER,

. a citizen of the United States, residing at Winthrop, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Key-Fasteners, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

The objectof my invention is to produce a key-fastener which, when the door is locked, will secure the key against being turned in the look by instruments inserted in the keyhole from the other side of the door; and my invention consists in a device having the novel features of construction which will be particularly described in the specification, and pointed out in the claims at the end thereof.

In the drawings, Figure l is a front elevation showing my fastener applied to a door .handle and key, with section through the shank of the door-handle. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the fastener detached. Fig. 4 is a side View of the fastener detached.

The body of the fastener is composed of a bar of spring metal, preferably brass, bent flatwise in a long inverted-U shape. The bend of the bow 12 should spread the arms wide enough apart to enable them to inclose a shank 2 of a door-handle. The arms have the upper portions 1 with their faces parallel with each other and are twisted a quarterturn at 3, so that the lower portions 4 of the arms are in a plane at right angles with the upper portions and are in the same plane with each other and parallel with the door. In the outer edge of each of the lower portions 4 are a series of notches 5, the notches in the two arms registering with each other. These notches,preferably,are somewhat dovetailed in shape, or like one arm of a Maltese cross-that is, have a contracted openingwith the upper and lower edges spreading as they recede, so that when the key is in the look any downward or upward pressure on the key or fastener will tend to set the key more deeply into the notch rather than to athreaded hole 7, tapped out in the bow of the fastener, having a washer 8 on the lower end.

When the fastener is to be applied to use, the key 9 is turned after looking the door, so that the bow 10 of the keylies horizontal. The arms of the fastener are passed over the shank of the handle 2 and the ends of the arms passed through the bow of the key, which can be done by compressing the arms on the sides. The fastener is pushed down until the bow of the key registers with the highest notch possible, there being a series of notches, because the distance between the key and the shank of the door-knob varies on different doors. 7 When the key registers with the appropriate notch, the arms of the fastener are released from compression and spring out, so that the bow of the key will engage with the notches. There will usually still be some slack, which is taken up by turning the thumb-screw 6 until the washer S bears on the upper side of the shank of the door-handle. The lower edges of the key-bow will rest in the bottom of the notches, and as the thumb-screw is set up the stem of the key will be drawn up taut until it stands at a slight inclination, as shown in the drawings, there being usually a little play in the eye of the keyhole, which would permit a wiggling of the key unless so drawn up. The key is thus held perfectly rigid, and if it be possi ble for an instrument to be passed through the keyhole from without, so as to grip the shank of the key and pull downward, instead of tending to pull the key out of the notch, it will tend rather to set it in more firmly on. account of the downwardly-receding inclination of the notches. The web of the key also thus being held rigidly in a horizontal position in line with the lock, it will be impossible to insert a wire between the web and the lock.

The outer edges of the arms from the lower notch to the end should be curved or slanted, so as not to leave a gripping hold for nippers which might be used in trying to pick the look.

I prefer to make the bow 12 of the fastener flattened for a short distance in the middle, because, if made on a curve throughout, the screw is more likely to bind in its hole when the arms are sprung toward each other. I also prefer to narrow the lower portions of the arms, so that the fastener can be used with a Yale key, in which the hole of the bow is usually small.

The length of the lower portion of the arms from the ends to the twist should preferably be at least as short as the distance between the door-knob shank and the key of any door with which the device is to be used, so that the edge of the notched portion will not bear on the shank of the'knob when the arms are compressed to insert the ends in the bow of the key. The thumb-screw may be made long enough so that the upper portions of the arms may be of any length.

My device is also adapted for use with doors in which the handle is located below the look, as Well as in cases where the handle is above the lock, as the fastener will be held firmly even when it has to be reversed in position, as would be required where the handle is below the lock.

Vhat I claim is 1. A key-fastener composed of a metal bar of inverted-U shape, having oppositely-registering notches in the outer edges of the lower portion of the arms, and having a take up screw passing through a threaded hole in the bow of the fastener, substantially as described.

2. A key-fastener composed of a flattened metal bar of inverted- U shape, the upper portions of the arms having their faces parallel with each other, and the lower portions havportions, with their edges toward each other,

notches in the outer edges of the lower portions which register with each other, and a take-up screw extending through the bow of the fastener, substantially as described.

A key-fastener composed of a metal bar of inverted-U shape, having oppositely-registering notches in the outer edges of the lower portions of the arms,s'aid notches widening from the outer edge inward, and a takeup screw passing through a threaded hole in the bow of the fastener, substantially as described.

4. A key-fastener composed of a flattened metal bar of inverted-U shape, the upperportions of the arms having their faces parallel with each other and the lower portions having their edges toward each other, notches in the outer edges of the lower portions which register with each other, the outer edges being beveled from the lower edge of the bottom notches to the ends of the arms, and a takeup screw passing through the bow of the fastener, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 17th day of March, A. D. 1897.

HERBERT A. PALMER.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM A. COPELAND, EDITH J. ANDERSON. 

